Preparing for a Unit: Leveraging AI for Writing Miniseries

Artificial Intelligence is a trending topic that sparks excitement and fear in educators. In this three part miniseries, Leah, Sarah, and Melanie will share powerful ways teachers can leverage AI for writing instruction. Today, Leah shares planning tools for teachers who are preparing for an upcoming unit of study. Next Wednesday, Sarah offers more teacher tools one can use during a unit, specifically to offer feedback. In two weeks, Melanie pivots to tools students can use as a scaffold as they grow into skilled writers. Have fun trying out the technology we share, and let us know how it goes in the comments!

Catch Up Quick: AI is changing technology rapidly. Theworld of artificial intelligence has likely changed even since I began drafting this post last week. Here are some resources to help you keep up:

• Los Angeles Unified School District Website updates often with implications for educators, students, and caregivers.
• The AI Breakdown is a podcast that shares daily artificial intelligence news.

Getting Ready: Let’s see how ChatGPT can help teachers find clarity and plan for a unit of writing instruction. The screenshots below depict what this might look like. 

Try it yourself using similar prompts that fit the students in your classroom! Make a free account in seconds and give it a go!

Finding Demonstration Texts: One thing that I spend time on as I prepare to teach a new unit is writing my own demonstration text within the genre. I have to ensure the first story I write isn’t too good so I can revise and refine my writing in front of students throughout the unit. Save time by asking ChatGPT to craft a demonstration text for you. Revise and refine ChatGPT’s creation with specific prompts, like I’ve demonstrated here:

This was a great start. Check out how flexible this tool is when I re-engineer the prompt:

Play around with demonstration texts yourself, using prompts like:

• Add dialogue
• Add sensory details
• Create three possible endings
• Begin with a description of the setting
• Add a flashback
• Add inner thinking

Here’s a Secret: Be as specific as possible. Notice how I specified the word count and general reading level. If ChatGPT replies with something that’s not quite right, simply tweak the prompt until you’re satisfied.

One More Tool: Another resource that has recently popped onto the scene is NovoDia. (You can join their waitlist for free using that link). What sets NovoDia apart from ChatGPT is that it generates illustrations in addition to text. In addition to images, NovoDia creates shareable content that is personalized for teaching topics, students’ interests, and cultural backgrounds. Here’s what it looks like when I enter the starfish story prompt from above into Novodia’s written story creator:

Click here to read the story I created. Enjoy the magical illustrations!

Why It Matters: Last week at the CCIRA Literacy Conference, I attended Meenoo Rami’s keynote about artificial intelligence. Meenoo shared that AI can be an assistant or a collaborator. AI the Assistant is a timer saver when teachers use it to craft “I can” statements, make sense of student data, respond to parent communication and adjust for tone, or to write recommendation letters. AI is a collaborator when teachers use it flexibly, as demonstrated with the different prompts I used above. AI the Collaborator ensures you never have to start with a blank page. 

One Thing to Remember: The genius lies in you, the teacher. In the same way we might use a tool like a thesaurus or spell-check, AI helps you work more efficiently. I encourage teachers to play around with ChatGPT and Novodia to see how you could use AI as an assistant or collaborator. 

Stay tuned for the rest of this mini-series about artificial intelligence. Look out for Sarah’s post next Wednesday!